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Build for my son's Daddy, ME...

(He is reading this while I type it and waves and says "Hello all and thank you for helping out with my new rig. It ROCKS)

I am currently, and has been for 3 years now, running a P4 2.53GHz, 9700 Pro and 1GB of Rambus 1066 and it is just not cutting it anymore. So now it is almost time for Daddy to get his new rig built too. Just a couple weeks more, and a few questions, and it will finally be Daddy's turn to get some new toys to play with. I have made up my mind to what I want but am not sure about a few things in the build, so thought I'd "consult" you guys again. I post this in the Cooling section because my main question is about cooling the new rig.

I will do some minor OC'ing.
The rig is going to have to last me for several years. 2.5 - 3 years is what I expect.
The rig has to be able to run 24/7 with 1 reboot every morning. (Unless installs/updates dictates otherwise)
The rig is going to be used mainly for gaming (Not only my son is a hard core gamer, Daddy and Mommy are hard core gamers too ), watching DVD's and work. (Work is just selling stuff on eBay. We do it for a living)

The rig has to be built in a couple or so weeks from now. No buying some stuff now, upgrade in a while or anything like that. It is going down soon, and all the way. "Now or never". Basically, what I want is the best there is, here and now.

This is not going to be cheap and my wife has already hinted that if I want something like this, I will have to learn a whole new meaning to the phrase "honey-do-list". So I better get this right and I really need some "expert" help, and suggestions, with my questions from all you guys.

Here is the list of what I have decided to put in the rig:AMD FX-57 (I never multitask)Asus A8N SLI Premium (Maybe the A8N32 if out in time, and if possible for SLI and still use 1 PCI slot for a sound card)2 GB Crucial Ballistix DDR 500 (PC 4000) (Supposed to be some awesome RAM if I got it right?)2 eVGA 7800GTX KO (For the most powerful SLI setup)Soundblaster X-Fi (Supposed to be really good when using headphones)PC Power & Cooling 510 SLI-PFC 510W (Going with the best for the best)WD Raptor 74GB (OS and games)WD Caviar 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0 (Pure storage)Dual Layer DVD burner + DVD Rom + CD Rom + Floppy (Yeah, I like one of each)Gigabyte Aurora 3D Case (I really, really like this case)Logitech MX1000 Laser Mouse (Already got this one)Logitech G15 Keyboard (Looks sweet and good reviws)Medusa 5.1 Headset (Already got this one)Fan controller + Matrix Orbital LCD (Always wanted one)
...and to top it all off, a Dell 2405FPW Monitor...

Now, if you have not fallen asleep yet, onto my questions, finally...

1: This case, do you think it will it have sufficient cooling for this setup?
It looks like it comes with some pretty decent and thought through cooling with a 120mm intake fane in front plus the big mesh on the side right over the video card and CPU area. Then 2 120mm exhaust fans in the back to get rid of the heat. If necessary, I can do minor modifications like rigging more fans inside, add a blowhole etc. Let me know what you think. Linky to review of the Gigabyte Aurora case

2: I have not decided yet on the cooling of the CPU and there's so many options to choose from. I'm not really concerned about the noise level since I use headphones 90% of the time. (Don't want it to sound like a vacuum cleaner on full blast though) I want to OC the FX-57 to 3GHz or thereabout. (Water cooling not an option, got to be on air) What do you think about something like this? (Maybe with some less powerful fans, and a support bracket to hold the thing up?)Linky to nice looking CPU cooling setup

3: Should I go with some after market cooling for the video cards too, or will the stock cooling on the KO's be sufficient enough?

Ok the case looks excellent (tons of airflow anyways). As far as the cpu cooler goes I personally dislike the tower style sinks because they are pretty call and heavy. Personally I like the XP-90C the most out of all current sinks. Also for your psu have you considered this (yes it's complete overkill and your current psu is the best sane option )??

"Unlike Windows, Linux tries to happily coexist with other OS's. It's not like Windows which will go out of its way to break other installs." MRD
"On the second day of the seventh month, in the third year of the new milenium, Wedo looked down and saw new pow-ah join team 32, and it was good." Wedo
"I switch Oses like most people change pants. :)" rogerdugans
"Always be sure to flash your bios during lightning storms!" MRD
Please Fold for team 32!
portage > apt > source > rpm > windows updateGautam is a water buffalo

Well, the TURBO-COOLŪ 1KW is a beast, but with a somewhat hefty pricetag attached to it. As far as I understand, the 510 SLi should be more than enough to run the setup I have planed?, for half the price.

but to answer you questions here yah go...
1) I would go with a nice Lian Li case, if you plan on spending that much cash why not get the best cases??
2) I would just stick with an xp90/120. They cool great, and since your not OCing much there is not much need to dumpp a whole lot of money into that fancy HSF you linked.

Also i wouldn't bother with an fx57 if your not OCing much. I am sure you'd be very happy with either an x2 or san deigo core cpu. Same cache (x2 = 512k x 2), and both clock well over 2.5ghz easily.

I guess I missed telling you what case I use now, and has been for the last 3 years. It is a Lian-Li PC75 (the one with a window on the side). To be honest, I am a bit tired of it and want something new and this new Gigabyte case looks awesome imo. Good cooling (enough I hope), aluminum, perfect size and a little bling-bling on top of it all.

The 120 is another heatsink I have been looking at, and eveyone using it seems perfectly happy with its performance. Team it up with some nice high cfm Delta should do the trick?

I was thinking of the X2 4800+ but as I said, I never multitask. So why not go for the fastest there is for single core. Price wise, they are not too far apart anyway. Both being ridiculously expensive.

Water not being an option. Would make it too expensive. I'm on a budget here. Really, I AM! Also, I have no experience whatsoever with water cooling and just the thought of a minor slip up (read leak) in this system send chills down my spine.

As far as the HS goes its a matter of personal choice since both are top notch performers. I like the XP-90C more because its smaller and hence easier to install.

"Unlike Windows, Linux tries to happily coexist with other OS's. It's not like Windows which will go out of its way to break other installs." MRD
"On the second day of the seventh month, in the third year of the new milenium, Wedo looked down and saw new pow-ah join team 32, and it was good." Wedo
"I switch Oses like most people change pants. :)" rogerdugans
"Always be sure to flash your bios during lightning storms!" MRD
Please Fold for team 32!
portage > apt > source > rpm > windows updateGautam is a water buffalo

I might recommend a different motherboard if your planning on OCing, even a little. I heard the ASUS one is pretty bad at OCing. Maybe I recommend the Abit AN8-SLi Fataility? Since your spending a lot, then it would be worth what your paying for it.

Maybe consider waiting for the DFi LanParty Expert? It's supposed to OC better then previous models and even have less problems. It's expected to come out within the next 2-3 weeks or so.

Since the FX-57 comes stock at 2.8ghz, you should be able to hit 3.0ghz with that Crucial Ballistix fairly easily.

The eVGA 7800GTX KO is the highest stock OCed card out there now. I'd probably recommend going with a aftermarket cooler if it fits. Because with a FX-57 and two GTXs, you should be able to get some great benchmarks, just for the heck of it.

Heck, run two Raptors in RAID0 to get even better performance, but I don't think you can get much better with GTX KOs in SLi.

Got to think a lil more about the CPU cooling I guess. If, I decide to go with the big tower, what 92mm fans do you recommend then. And should I, like in the picture, use 2? One push (blowing onto HS) and one pull (pulling off the HS towards the lower back exhaust fan)? Or both blowing onto the HS?

What about the video card cooling? Stock being enough you think? Not going to OC them since they come OC'd as it is.

Been reading up on DFi boards too, but a lot of ppl seem to have problems with them. Also, since I am only doing a mild overclock, 200MHZ, I thought the ASUS would be enough? The DFI seems a little, well overwhelming. I am fairly new at OC'ing. I will check out the Abit AN8-SLi Fataility though. Not read anything about it yet. Stability is very important to me, running 24/7/365.

well my dfi board came with no problems. and contrary to what people say, its super easy to install and setup. basically all you need to know is what to enter into the ram section. here is a guide that is *perfect*, yes perfect at explaining everything thing there is to know about dfi settings and ocing. http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20823

As far as 92mm fans go I suggest reading the Delta sticky at the top of these forums. For the motherboard I like my DFI ultra-d if you have the time to read around on www.dfi-street.com its quite good. Finally for the videocard the stock cooling will do.

"Unlike Windows, Linux tries to happily coexist with other OS's. It's not like Windows which will go out of its way to break other installs." MRD
"On the second day of the seventh month, in the third year of the new milenium, Wedo looked down and saw new pow-ah join team 32, and it was good." Wedo
"I switch Oses like most people change pants. :)" rogerdugans
"Always be sure to flash your bios during lightning storms!" MRD
Please Fold for team 32!
portage > apt > source > rpm > windows updateGautam is a water buffalo

It is...at first.
Cooper's links are very useful, but just leaving the memory settings on "auto" will pose no problems at all.
The biggest advantage to the LanParty series (and I have been through a Gigabyte and Asus previously) is the incredible official support and the frequency of new BIOS releases.

The bewildering memory settings will soon become familiar and you'll be able to extract maximum performance from your RAM even if you don't OC.

"Let's face it, we're not changing the world. We're building a product that helps people buy more crap - and watch porn."Bill Watkins, CEO Seagate Technology

Well, this rig looks great, but I forsee one very major problem, Modded Logic. When your wife sees the bill her "honey do list" will be so long you will never get to turn your computer on yet alone play a game. Enjoy!

Water not being an option. Would make it too expensive. I'm on a budget here. Really, I AM! Also, I have no experience whatsoever with water cooling and just the thought of a minor slip up (read leak) in this system send chills down my spine.